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Walmart (WMT) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

Celgene (CELG) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock? We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues.

In the latest trading session, Walmart (WMT) closed at $103.14, marking a +0.75% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.88%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.55%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.32%.

Coming into today, shares of the world's largest retailer had gained 4.28% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 4.72%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.96%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from WMT as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be May 16, 2019. In that report, analysts expect WMT to post earnings of $1.02 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 10.53%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $125.24 billion, up 2.08% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.75 per share and revenue of $528.21 billion, which would represent changes of -3.26% and +2.68%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for WMT. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. WMT is holding a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that WMT has a Forward P/E ratio of 21.53 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.95.

It is also worth noting that WMT currently has a PEG ratio of 4.71. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Retail - Supermarkets stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.43 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 55, putting it in the top 22% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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